Additional Details

Ideal for early remedial readers, these classics are illustrated re-tellings of classic novels, with a graphic novel feel to them. The pages are colorful and glossy with text boxes and speech bubbles that capture the essence of the novel in an adventurous, fast-paced way. They are each about 60-80 pages, have fewer than 200 words per page, and are paperback. You can purchase the classics separately, or in a set that includes the classic, an audio CD that reads the illustrated classic aloud, and a study guide.

The audio CD that accompanies each set contains a word-for-word reading of the illustrated classic (with beeps for turning pages) and is easy to listen to. Each CD runs about 30-40 minutes.

The study guides include reproducible review sheets for students to complete. Each includes 11 worksheets which focus on a variety of reading comprehension skills and are written at a fifth grade reading level. Students will preview the featured classic, learn vocabulary, do a character study, sequence events from the classic, and more. Some fun activities like crossword puzzles and mazes are also included. Answer key included. Please note that study guides are transitioning from printed format to PDF format on CD-ROM.

Customer Review

Katie B. from Grass Valley, Ca wrote the following on 01/09/2009:After purchasing three versions of CD/Book sets (DK, Bring the Classics to Life, and this one, Illustrated Classics) I found this series to be the most productive. The stories are abbreviated but in an interesting way that is still true to the essence of the story. The CD readings use different voices, compelling music, and appropriate sound effects. The book is in a comic book format that really attracted my 10 year old son and though my 9 year old daughter has no special affinity for comics, she was just as interested in reading the brightly colored pages as my son. There are two books of activities included that can be copied for multiple children. We used some of them as discussion starters and others as workbook exercises. The DK series of CD/Book sets were also great and I think stayed truer to the original stories than the Illustrated Classics (though I did not buy the same book in both versions) DK also has attractive picture books to go along with the CD’s but the Illustrated Classics, in my opinion, were still the most comprehensive set of the three. The Bring the Classics to Life series was the weakest of the three, the stories are altered significantly and for a very basic reading level. I feel that having the CD can be a great tool to allow kids to read and interact with stories beyond their current reading level but this set did not use this tool and turned out to be mind numbingly boring. “Robin walked.” “The Sheriff became angry.” are actual sentences in the story then read out loud on the CD in a monotone voice. None of my three children stayed interested for long, I then put the same story in from DK and my kids volunteered to sit in the car until the story was finished.